


Before the Mistletoe, and After

by lowbudgetcyborg, theghettocyborg (lowbudgetcyborg)



Category: Norse Mythology
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-16
Updated: 2010-03-16
Packaged: 2017-10-08 00:47:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/70984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lowbudgetcyborg/pseuds/lowbudgetcyborg, https://archiveofourown.org/users/lowbudgetcyborg/pseuds/theghettocyborg
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Drabbles and ficlets about Loki's family</p>
            </blockquote>





	Before the Mistletoe, and After

Tyr wonders sometimes why Odin sent for Loki's children. The Aesir whispered that the Allfather was afraid of them, but Tyr thinks that he wanted that much less to pull the Lie-Smith back to Jotunheim. It seems he did not need to bother. Loki made no protest when his youngest son was exiled and the oldest kenneled with Odin's hunting hounds. The middle child was made lady of the forgotten and unwanted. Many assume that she will fade like the souls in her hall.

Tyr plans ways to block the roads and passes between Asgard and Niflheim.

***

Tyr carries a plate piled with boarmeat to the corner of the hall where the heroes and gods never go. The pup has slept there ever since he outgrew Odin's kennels. Still growing, and longer than a tall man now. Teeth like holdout daggers and feet like snowshoes. Tyr knows the pup for a fatherless son in need of teaching and fostering, so he brings the meat and sits near while he plays hnefatafl after the food is cleared. Fenris' amber eyes track every movement of the attackers, the chief, and his defenders. He watches every capture and every sacrifice.

***

Loki knows that Odin is using his children to punish him... for Angerboda, for being happy in a woman's house. He has given Odin one child, allowed him to exile two others, and watched as Tyr fostered his boy-cub. Now Loki watches some young Aesir goad Fenris into chains, watches his son bunch the muscles of his barely filled out frame and shake off the iron links as if they were autumn leaves. Everyone cheers. Loki knows Tyr trained Fenris well, but standing in the middle of the plain, surrounded by a laughing crowd, his wolf son can't see the ambush coming.

***

She raises the bowl. Her arms and back are strong. Her feet learned the path to the riverbank long ago. She can walk it in her sleep; she has. She holds the bowl up and hears the drip of venom. _Splish_. She watches the tears roll out of his eyes, washing out the poison. She hears his breathing slow, his sobs quiet. _Splish, splish_. She tells herself that this won't last forever, even in timeless Niflheim. The ship will be built, and he will be helmsman.

She holds the bowl in one hand and gently takes the rag from his mouth. They think she gave it to him to save his white, unbroken teeth. _Splish, splish_. She couldn't let Odin hear him screaming, couldn't chance a lover's pity growing in his heart. _Splish_. She couldn't stand to hear her husband, fevered and delirious, calling out to her sons' murderer with love in his voice.

She tends him carefully, nursing his wounds and nursing his hate. She settles the bowl into both hands, rolling her shoulders, flexing her knees. "Narvi took his first steps on a day like this," she reminds him. _Splish_. "Remember how Vali always loved to watch the sea birds?" _Splish_.

The bowl fills. Tenderly she gags him. She steps the path to the riverbank while he jerks and howls under the serpents. Across the plains of Asgard his wolf son howls with him and in the halls tales and conversations stutter. They tell each other how loyal she is, how pure. She empties the bowl and returns.

She raises the bowl. _Splish_.

**Author's Note:**

> Author's note: Hneftafl is a Viking Age game board game where one player has many "attacker" pieces and the other player has slightly fewer "defender" pieces, plus a "King". The attack player wins by capturing the king, and the defending player wins by successfully moving the king to the edge of the board. The game was often played in two rounds, with each player taking one round in each position.


End file.
